


Love you best when you are savage and bitter

by crookedspoon



Series: Panels, Ink, and Caped Crusaders [15]
Category: Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Bloodplay, F/M, How Do I Tag, Knifeplay, POV John Doe, Season/Series 02, of sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-04 01:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13353648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: "What's that hideous thing you're wearin'?" she asks, face mirroring the disgust in her voice.





	Love you best when you are savage and bitter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlsarewolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsarewolves/gifts).
  * Translation into Русский available: [Love you best when you are savage and bitter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14014851) by [lieutenant_hatshepsut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lieutenant_hatshepsut/pseuds/lieutenant_hatshepsut)



> For Give it a Whirl Day 11 "All senses" at [1-million-words](https://1-million-words.livejournal.com/2249477.html) and #89 "hawaiian shirt" at comicdrabbles.
> 
> As usual, I'm trying _not_ to use the prompted words. Hope it's working and not too confusing. Inspired by season 2 episode 3.

John, tired of fidgeting by the door, clears his throat. Harley bade him enter after he knocked, so she's aware of his presence, and choosing not to acknowledge it yet.

It's not like he's impatient or anything. He'd be content to observe her as she rearranges her makeup case all day long, but she must have called him here for a reason and he'd rather not seem like he's dallying. Besides, being ignored is a bit unnerving.

Harley, for her part, grouses at being disturbed, then grouses some more when she swivels around to look at him.

"What's that hideous thing you're wearin'?" she asks, face mirroring the disgust in her voice.

"Oh, this?" he says and picks at the hem of his pale blue shirt with the palm tree print. "It's just an old thing..."

"It's an eyesore, is what it is. Take it off."

"You mean now?" John is loathe to leave Harley's presence, but if he's supposed to return right after, it's all right.

"Yes, now." Harley makes it sound self-evident, so John is caught a little off guard. He complies, as usual, because it's her.

"O-okay, I'll be right back." He's just turned on his heels and wrapped his fingers around the door knob, when she stops him in his tracks.

"No need to be shy, puddin'." 

He shivers as her chair scrapes across the floorboards.

"You can take it off here," she says, and he starts when her hand alights on his shoulder to spin him around. "I insist."

He catches the glint of a knife in her other hand and expects to find it rammed into his stomach, but it's not quite as dire. Instead, she uses it to slice his shirt to ribbons – and himself in the process. 

"You could have given me a chance to take it off." He laughs weakly and watches blood well up from the shallow cuts across his chest. It's not so bad. This close, the floral scent of her shampoo wafts into his nose. It's worth every ache she inflicts.

" _You_ could've been faster."

Her smirk is playful as she drags her leather-sheathed fingers over his chest. They're smooth and cool, and he shivers again when they slip what's left of the fabric from his shoulders.

"Now be a good doll and sit still."

The way she guides him to her chair with a mere press of her hand against his breastbone makes him feel like one of her dummies lining the walls. His heart goes _thump-thump-thump_ in anticipation.

She's going to use his face as a canvas again, painting it to suit her mood, and he'll be gnawing off the lipstick she applies in the hours to come, coating his teeth with the chemical tang of it, imagining it was her lips that left it there.

She does not, however, use her utensils. Instead, she drags her finger through a trail of blood and smears it across his lips.

"Red's a good color on you, puds."

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Indestructible" by temposhark.
> 
> Tumblr post for reblogging convenience can be found [here](https://crookedspoonfic.tumblr.com/post/169634052960/snowflake-day-12-create-something).


End file.
